Field
A negative electrode for a rechargeable lithium battery and a rechargeable lithium battery including the same are disclosed.
Description of the Related Art
Lithium rechargeable batteries have recently drawn attention as a power source for small portable electronic devices. Lithium rechargeable batteries use an organic electrolyte solution and thereby, have twice or more as high a discharge voltage than a conventional battery using an alkali aqueous solution and accordingly, high energy density.
Such a rechargeable lithium battery is generally manufactured by injecting an electrolyte solution into an electrode assembly, which includes a positive electrode including a positive active material capable of intercalating/deintercalating lithium ions and a negative electrode including a negative active material capable of intercalating/deintercalating lithium ions.
As for the negative active material, various graphite-based materials such as artificial graphite, natural graphite and the like have been used.
When the graphite-based negative active material is applied to realize a high-capacity rechargeable lithium battery, an active material layer is in general formed to have greater than or equal to about 30 mg/cm2 of a weight per unit area on both sides of a current collector, and a negative electrode is also compressed to have active mass density of greater than or equal to 1.70 g/cc.
However, lithium ions have difficulties in moving in the electrode and change a lithiated state in the electrode, failing in realizing designed capacity of the rechargeable lithium battery and causing a problem in terms of power and cycle-life characteristics.